Friendship bracelet
by Vampire Toy
Summary: A follow up to ‘Lonely Sand’ (though you don’t need to have read it to understand this); Gaara visits the Hidden Leaf with his uncle and discovers the wonders of the friendship bracelet XD (Just a cute one-shot taking place in childhood)


Friendship Bracelet

By: Vampire Toy

PG

Disclaimer: No me own ;;

Summary: A follow up to 'Lonely Sand' (though you don't need to have read it to understand this); Gaara visits the Hidden Leaf with his uncle and discovers the wonders of the friendship bracelet XD (Just a cute one-shot taking place in childhood)

….

"What do you say we visit the Hidden Leaf?"

The request was sudden but welcomed. Gaara saw no reason not to go; after all it was very boring where he was, especially when no one would play with him.

"Ok."

He wasn't sure what his uncle was planning on doing when they arrived, but he could assume. His uncle had been having a lot of meetings lately in many different villages and this was the first time he'd actually invited Gaara; all the other times the villages were much too far away and much longer than a two day stay. It would take until nighttime to get there, his uncle would probably sleep then and Gaara would wait 'til morning when the meeting was probably going to be held. Afterwards they'd go again back home.

All this seemed almost uneventful and indifferent from Gaara's regular days aside from training, but a change of scenery was an exciting new prospect the red head looked foreword to. So he packed a night early, when everyone else was at rest and he usually had very little to do.

The next morning his uncle was only half surprised at the child's readiness, ruffling his hair affectionately when Gaara showed him his suitcase of things.

"That's smart thinking packing a night ahead, it means we can leave earlier, then maybe we can get there sooner." His uncle told him as he finished packing his own bag.

"I hope so."

His uncle smiled again, "Then lets get going."

…

The journey was long on foot, but Gaara enjoyed it, being able to be with someone who wasn't afraid of him and that would occasionally smiled at him. They traveled for hours before Yashumaru finally announced they had arrived.

"Looks as if we've made good time, it's only evening."

"So we can look around?"

"I don't see why not, let's just drop off our thing's at the hotel."

Gaara nod and scampered after Yashamaru into their hotel. They dropped off their things and Yashamaru began walking out and Gaara quickly grabbed his hand, eager to explore. His uncle's surprise slowly faded as they came to the street.

They walked through the town of Konoha , Gaara with wide curious eyes and his uncle peering through weary ones. Gaara looked at all the homes when they got out of the commercial town district. There were many different kinds but he only noticed one, a small home that looked messily kept, with its hedges overgrown and its windows dark.

(That's weird, all the other homes still have their lights on) he knew that this was bedtime for many children but the parents usually stayed up for a little while longer, he'd seen it in his own village as well. (Maybe that's why that house is so dark, because the parent's aren't there to keep them on)

But Gaara's thought's lingered only for a while before turning its attention to the other buildings.

When he got back to the hotel with his tired uncle, however, he couldn't seem to forget the lonely house. He was tempted to ask his uncle about it but didn't want to keep him up anymore than he already had. He had an important meeting the next morning after all.

So instead Gaara sat on the roof of the hotel like he did when he was at home. He watched the city then looked down as the sand molded different images for him. Now, he had nothing to bring his sand in, so he poured some in his suitcase with all his clothes and other things. He wasn't sure how much longer the nights in Konoha were compared to his village; he didn't want to be bored the entire night

He watched as the sand formed people that he'd seen earlier in the day and occasionally some of the buildings he'd seen. One building made him pause, the dark house. He looked at his sand replica curiously then over the city's rooftops. If there were no parents, then perhaps this person wouldn't mind staying up?

He stood and let the sand surround him, lowering him gently to the ground in front of the inn.

He hoped that this person was still awake, he didn't want to wake them, it wasn't nice.

He finally arrived to the house with the overgrown bushes but was surprised to find the lights were on this time.

(Maybe this kid's parents came home?)

He walked over to where the light was coming from, seeing as it was only coming from one window at the side of the house. He squint when he stepped into the bright glare of light. The window was big and the curtains were drawn back and he could clearly see a small pink haired girl sitting on her bed.

His eyes widened after they became used to the light and he smiled slightly when he recognized her.

(She's that girl who came to my village a while back, I remember seeing her, her names…Sakura)

Gaara was glad he'd found his friend again, but made no movement towards her, just standing in front of the window and staring at Sakura.

She was sitting on her bed, which was right by the window, and Gaara could see her dresser and the door to the hall behind her. He also noticed she was making something that looked like colorful string. She moved her hands quickly, weaving the multicolored threads together. Gaara wondered why doing something so pointless would make her wake up just to do it, when all the other children were sleeping.

Sakura's hands suddenly stopped; her window was large, and why she didn't notice Gaara before she wasn't sure, but she did notice him and turned to face him.

Gaara blinked in surprise when he saw her peering out at him, she moved her mouth but he couldn't hear anything through the glass and gave a questioning tilt of his head. Sakura blinked when she saw his confusion, she looked around the window panels then smiled, holding up her one finger to tell him to wait a moment. Gaara nod, standing just as patiently as before as Sakura's tiny hands undid the lock on her window. She pulled up the large window, the rainbow strings still in her hands, and finally managed to lift it enough for a small person to fit through.

"Hi!" she said.

"Hello."

"What are you doing outside my window?"

"Looking."

"At me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Whats that?"

"What?"

"That." Gaara's pudgy childish finger point to the mass of thread she still had in hand.

"Oh, its thread."

"I know, but what are you making?"

"Oh! A friendship bracelet."

"A friendship bracelet?"

Sakura nod in response and eyed him for a moment. She looked as if she were contemplating what to do with him but finally just crawled aside and pat the spot next to her on her bed. Even though she was young, she knew that if someone scared you or you didn't know them, then they shouldn't be let in your house. She also knew that if you knew them and your parents knew them then they could come in, but she was never told that someone who intrigues you could or could not come in.

"You don't look too dangerous, so if you want, you can come in. I'll tell you what it is."

Gaara gave a small smile and eagerly crawled through the window's opening. She may not have seen him when he'd seen her, but he could tell that she thought he was somewhat familiar….

"Ok, you see these strings? They each mean something different and you put the colors that you think are most like your friend together and 'weave' them into a bracelet. Then you give it to your friend so they can always know you love them."

"Oh…." Gaara looked curiously down at the one she was working on, "What do the colors mean?"

"Well, yellow is happy, blue is shy, green is silly, orange is fun, pink is loving, red is strong, purple is imaginative, and black and white are good luck, you always have to put those in."

"That's really good," Gaara point to hers, "how do you make it?"

"It's easy! How many colors do you want?"

Gaara paused, colors? But the colors represented a person you were giving it to, who would he give it to? What were their colors?

Sakura sensed his confusion and had an idea; though she'd never seen him around before, she assumed he didn't have many friends, as she didn't.

"I'll make one for you…I don't know you very well, but I can tell by the way you act what colors to pick for you."

"Really?" Gaara was surprised that she'd want to make one for him, but he was glad that she did.

"Yes! First we'll put in blue, because you look kinda shy, then green because your hair is so messy that it makes you look silly…"

Gaara blinked and immediately tried to smooth down his hair, but Sakura just laughed and messed it back up with her hand.

"No, that's a good silly! If it were bad I wouldn't put it in your bracelet."

"O-oh." Gaara gave a relieved smile accompanied by a happy blush.

"Then we'll put in orange, because I'm sure that if I we ever get to play together, that you'd be a lot of fun."

Gaara's heart thumped as he watched Sakura pick up each of the strings, saying something nice about him with each color. She knew him better than she thought, because Gaara remembered meeting her, but he wouldn't tell her that. besides, he didn't need to, she didn't judge him like the other children did, she was being kind to him….she was giving him a chance to be a friend.

"Red's next, because you look like you're really strong….or you're gonna be strong one day, then purple…..well, because everyone has an imagination." Sakura paused and let a small shade of rose flush over her cheeks.

"Pink! Because I love you!" she giggled, "And because you seem like a loving person!" She added quickly. Gaara smiled at her, red also heating his cheeks once again. He had a friend who loved him, maybe his uncle was right, love is a wonderful medicine for the hurt in your heart. He was already beginning to feel a little better.

"Hmmm…….and yellow, because when someone has a friend….they're never unhappy…..then white and black…" Sakura moved closer to show him how she braided the strings, her hands moving more slowly this time so that Gaara could learn how to do it as well.

Gaara watched in fascination until she was completely finished, eager to try make one of his own.

"Here, this one's for you, from me. Gimme your hand and I'll tie it on for you."

Gaara held out his arm, revealing his slightly tanned childish arms from under his beige cape. Sakura tied the two lose ends of the craft around his wrist and sat back smiling.

"You wanna try?"

"Yes! It looks fun…"

"Ok, what colors?"

"Let me make one for you, give me all the colors."

Sakura beamed happily at him and gave him a string of each color.

"Its weird," Gaara said as he wove, "they look really good together, all these colors, when they're strung like this, but when you paint them all together they turn out a really ugly brownish color."

"Yeah, I've tried that too….but I think the brown is just a cover up."

"Cover up?" Gaara asked as his fingers clumsily twisted and strung the strings around one another.

"Yeah, I mean, it's an ugly color, but my mom said that it was the most beautiful color of them all."

"I don't understand." Gaara said, beginning to listen more to Sakura as he gave up on weaving.

"Well she told me that even though its not too pretty, it has all the other colors in it, and that makes it special. She says everyone is an ugly brown color on the outside, but everyone also has a color that shows through the brown, like happy colors or even really sad colors. It makes us look funny because we don't have enough of some of the colors… because you can never have just one and be a pretty brown, you need them all."

"How does that make it pretty?" Gaara asked, playing with the strings when he realized he'd been defeated.

Sakura thought for a moment and smiled, "She says, it mean's that no one will ever not need anyone and no one will ever not be needed…..because our goal in life is to help everyone make their brown pretty and that if they have more sad colors then they need some of your happy colors to help them out, or if they have a lot of happy colors, then someone with sadder colors can make them even prettier ... So we're all very beautiful even though we don't look like it on the outside, its all the colors inside that you give and accept that makes you special."

Gaara looked down at the strings and fiddled with them a little while longer in a moment of silence, before raising his head to her.

"So, brown….so are we brown now?"

"Well, I don't think we're completely brown but I think we're supposed to be."

"Hmm….well…I'm sorry I can't make you a bracelet; these strings keep getting tangled."

"That's ok."

"But….I think, I can give you a different friendship bracelet…..unless it has to be made with string…"

"A friendship bracelet can be made of anything."

"Ok then…." Gaara's small hands came together in what looked like some type of ninja symbol and Sakura became curious. The sand had followed Gaara when he'd jumped from the roof, and were began forming a round bracelet as the grains came and stuck together.

"Wow! How do you do that!" Sakura asked when Gaara finished.

"I've always been able to do that." he said, taking her wrist and slipping the bracelet on her arm.

"That's really cool!" she smiled, fiddling with the bracelet of sand.

"I know I can't make different colors for you, but you said brown had all the colors, so those are all the colors for you."

"Thank you."

Gaara smiled and was about to begin speaking again when he heard a noise from the front of the house. Sakura had heard it as well and a panicked look spread over her face.

"You need to leave quickly!" she whispered. Gaara's heart began pounding faster when he saw Sakura's fear and he quickly crawled out the window again. He paused and turned around.

Sakura saw him standing still and stuck out the window from her waist up, to see what Gaara wanted.

"Umm, I won't be here for much longer because I don't live in this village, so I guess I'll say goodbye now, er so…goodbye, I'll miss you Sakura, thank you."

Sakura smiled, but it dropped quickly when she heard the voices inside her house. She leaned down and gave Gaara's cheek a quick peck before retreating back inside.

"Goodbye! I'll miss you too!"

The red head turned bright pink and smiled shyly at her before turning and running off down the street. Sakura blinked and stuck her head out again.

"WAIT! WHATS YOUR NAME?"

But Gaara was too far to hear her now, and her parents pulled her back inside.

"Sakura! What are you doing shouting out your window in the middle of the night? Why is it open? Why aren't you in bed? Get to sleep young lady you have class tomorrow!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Go, sleep, now."

"Ok, ok…."

…

Yashumaru's meeting went by successfully and he and Gaara returned home immediately after it was dismissed. He asked Gaara what he'd thought of the Leaf Village and he said he would like to come back one day.

"Why is that?"

"I made a friend here."

"You….did….?"

"Yes, her name is Sakura."

"Well…" Yashumaru's face seemed gloomy at the comment and he looked off into the horizon as they walked, trying to think of what to say to his little nephew. After all, Gaara had mentioned her before, but he'd never seen her. He'd been wondering if Gaara's lack of friends might've been making him delusional in some way.

"Alright." He finally smiled, "We'll come back to visit one day."

Gaara smiled up at him, "Thank you." He looked ahead of him again and took a quick look at his bracelet, his smile growing.

(And thank you Sakura)

…

The next morning when Sakura woke to a screaming alarm clock, she found small grains of sand stuck to her face. She sat up and brushed them off, then realized they might be from her bracelet. When she looked down, however, she found that the bracelets grains had fallen apart and it was just a pile of sand now.

(Hmm? It must be because he left….I guess it only stays together when he's here….)

She frowned slightly but simply brushed the sand into her hand and flopped out of bed, she walked over to her desk, and was about to throw the sand in her small trashcan but she stopped.

(No, it's special, even if it isn't a bracelet anymore)

Sakura put the pile on top of her desk and ran into out of her room, returning with one of her father's shot glasses and scraped the sand into the little cup. She dropped to her knees then and pulled out a box from under her bed. She quickly placed the glass next to a ribbon and some dried flowers then and slid it back under her bed so her dad wouldn't be able to find it. She knew he'd throw the sand out if he saw it.

(I wish I'd gotten his name) it's just like the last time you made a friend…..(wait, that bracelet was made form sand, he could be the same person from last time!) Wow, and I still managed to screw things up!

Sakura hung her head and sighed, standing up and stretching slightly before realizing she was late to class.

"NOOOOO!"

…

Vampire Toy: Yeah, I figure Gaara can only keep the bracelet a bracelet when he's nearby since he's so little now XP. Bet there is regret in asking me to do a follow up ne? Well, this is for Sakura Kage who wanted me to do a follow up to 'Lonely Sand' and so I did. The brown thing was kinda weird and I didn't like it too much, I wanted it to be black, but Gaara's sand isn't black, and no color can show through black. :3 well, please don't kill me for this crappiness, and I hope I haven't lowered your IQ any XP please R&R and Flames welcome 3


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